A variety of holders and receptacles have been disclosed and used in the past for holding, carrying and dispensing coins and tokens. These include devices which are used only as token or coin holders such as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 682,852, 1,378,277, 2,117,516 and 2,227,191; devices used to hold a combination of items such as coins or tokens together with car keys and the like as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,569,629, 3,473,648 and 4,305,497; and coin or token holders used in association with pocketbooks, wallets and the like such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 663,016, 1,863,150, and 2,013,485.
The use of tokens for transit fares, highways tolls and the like is widespread. These tokens, by virtue of their similarity in size and form to coins issued as legal money, may be mistaken therefor at times even though their value and suitability for use may be different. It would be very desirable to have a holder in which a quantity of such tokens may be carried in a purse or pocket identifiably separate from coins and other items without adding objectionable bulk thereto and which would make them ready and available for use when needed. Such holders from which the tokens are conveniently dispensed one at a time without undue manipulation or accidental displacement of others in the holder, or which may also be used to carry a quantity of coins of various denominations in a convenient way would be particularly desirable.
The devices heretofore used as coin and token holders have not been entirely satisfactory being that they generally serve to hold the tokens aligned in an end-to-end array, thus limiting the number that may be available and necessitating frequent refilling to provide a sufficient number to be used over even short periods of time (transit fares or highway tolls for several trips), and many require special effort and manipulation to dispense the coins or tokens when needed, employ special structural configurations to avoid inadvertent displacement of coins or tokens from the holder which are not full and the like.